Making Connection in Life

For most people, making sense or meaning of our lives is about the connections we have with ourselves and with others. It can be as simple as the comfort of being known at the bank or the coffee drive-up window, or getting a wave from a neighbor. It might be a joke we share with a child in the line for the bus or a sympathetic comment we share with someone at the grocery store when we see another bedraggled parent trying to grocery shop for the evening meal while their toddler is having a melt-down.

Sometimes it happens when we take our dog outside for the millionth time and we both see something really bizarre and we look at each other with the “Did you see that, too?” look which makes us both laugh ourselves silly.

According to the movies the only valid relationship in the entire world is the romantic one but as I look around at all the myriad forms that connection can take, I know a very simple truth – Love is Love. Not matter where you find it, no matter what form you find it in, no matter how long or short it lasts, genuine connection between people is a precious expression of one of the many forms of love.

Do you have enough love in your life? As the old adage says, If you want love, be love. Extend your love to others and it will come back to you but don’t do it so that it will come back to you. Do it because it is right to do so and because it expresses who you are. I saw an ad for a t-shirt today and printed on the t-shirt was this – The first one to smile – wins!

Show your love by offering to help a person in need. Go out of your way to be kind to someone. Extend yourself without falling over. Set boundaries and then be generous within them. Tell the people you love that you love them without hoping or expecting to hear “I love you” back. Just say it and let it go like a balloon. The best love in any form is the love that is given freely.